Leaders stunned by death

El Paso’s leaders, civic and church, were stunned and shocked at the assassination of President John F. Kennedy Friday.

Most
of them found it hard to believe that the assassination had taken
place. El Paso Mayor Judson Williams said: “It is a hard thing to put
into words. It is an indescribable tragedy, a shock to think that it
could happen in the United States. The loss to the U.S. is irreparable,
regardless of political differences. It is hard to phrase your feelings
at a time like this.”

Retired U.S. District Judge R.E. Thomason,
who sat next to Kennedy when he was a young congressman was sworn into
the House for the first time, said he was shocked and stunned and “I do
not know what to say.” “He was a most able man and great leader. It is
not only a national tragedy, but a world one. He was a great friend of
the people I do not have words to express my shock.” Judge Thomason
recently received an autographed picture from the President.

County
Judge Glen Woodard said, “To my way of thinking. John F. Kennedy was
one of the greatest presidents in history.” “I worked with him, and I
worked for him. I had the pleasure to meet him personally.

GREAT
LOSS – “This cowardly murder caused a great loss to the world, to the
nation and to millions of us as individuals. Those who personally
attacked President, verbally and now physically, confused the man with
the great office of President of the United States,” Woodard said.

County
Democratic Chairman Richard C. White was en route to Austin for a
dinner honoring the President Friday night when the assassination took
place. Mrs. White said she hoped to hear from her husband soon.

“I
am so proud of El Paso because of the humanity shown by scheduling
church services for the President. It shows the warmness of the hearts
of El Pasoans. “I have been sitting in front of the television set
crying all morning since this happened,” Mrs. White said.

Alan
Rash, El Paso County Republican Chairman said: “As any American
citizen, this is shocking and incomprehensible to me. All Republicans
in this County join with the family of President Kennedy and the rest
of the nation in showing their sorrow.

“He was our President,
too, and in such capacity we would have followed his leadership even
though we disagreed with his politics,” Rash said.

State Sen.
Frank Owen III, who had to cancel a dinner engagement in which
President Kennedy spoke, said “I am personally grieved,” “My words are
inadequate compared to those that others in the nation and the world
have already said.

“It is something that is most unfortunate and
insane thing. I learned about the President’s death through a service
station attendant who was delivering my wife’s car,” he said and sick
and in bed for a week, said Owen. “I would not call myself a close
friend of his, but I met him and talked with him many times, I
respected him a great deal. It is a terrible tragedy for the whole
world.” Sen. Owen expressed he was concerned about Gov. John Conally,
“who is a personal and very close friend of mine.”

The most Rev. S.M.
Metzger bishop of El Paso Diocese said: “President Kennedy was felled
Friday by the bullet of an assassin. This is a tragedy which will shock
the world and is a deep sorrow for all Americans, even for those who
did not agree with the President’s political philosophy. We pray for
the President who is gone, and also pray for President Johnson, in
order that God may lighten his heavy burdens.

Charles Gibson,
district committeeman for the Republican Party, expressed “shock at the
great tragedy. He was my President. I may have differed with his
political views, but he was still a fellow American. People differ, but
they still have great respect for each other. I think it is a great
tragedy that our president met death in that way,” he said.

Justin
Ormsby, of Northeast El Paso Democratic Club, issued this statement:
“The world, and especially the United States, has lost, one of the most
dynamic and dedicated of its citizens by the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy. History books of the future will reveal the greatness
and the untimely end of this great figure.”

State Rep. John F. Ned Blaine, was in Austin to attend the dinner that had been scheduled in honor of Kennedy.

County
Commissioner Tom May said: “This is the most awful thing that has
happened in American life. It is the same thing as spitting on the
American flog. I am concerned with how we can explain to the younger
generation why and how this happened. “It is a most horrible experience
any person believing in America and the American flag can have in a
lifetime.”

Commissioner Rogelio Sanchez said the assassination of
President Kennedy was a big blow to the American people and to the
world. “I am terribly ashamed that it happened in this great state,
after the President and Mrs. Kennedy traveled to Europe, Latin America
and other countries without incident. I am deeply, deeply hurt over the
President’s death,” he said.